The opening of a Consulate of the Democratic Republic of Congo in Dakhla is “a major event” given the importance of this country and its responsibilities within the African Union (AU) that it will chair starting next year, said, on Saturday, December 19, 2020, in Dakhla, Minister of Foreign Affairs, African Cooperation and Moroccans Abroad, Mr. Nasser Bourita.
This diplomatic act is of particular importance as it comes from a country that has always supported Morocco in its national cause, the Minister said at a press briefing with his DRC counterpart Mrs Marie Tumba Nzeza, held on the occasion of the inauguration of this diplomatic representation.
Morocco has always welcomed the support of the DRC, he said, recalling that at meetings of the Southern African Development Community (SADC), Mrs. Tumba Nzeza and His Excellency President Felix Tshisekedi, have consistently expressed their clear and assumed support for the territorial integrity and Moroccanness of the Sahara.
Bourita recalled that when the Kingdom decided to leave the Organization of African Unity, in 1986, the DRC took the same decision, noting that Late HM King Hassan II had then asked the President to return to the Union given the fact that Morocco needs its friends inside the grouping to defend legality and international law.
In that sense, he recalled that the DRC had left this Organization for two years to express its rejection of the flagrant violation of international law and of the charters of the Organization itself.
The inauguration of this consulate is in line with this consistent position and confirms the fact that the DRC opened its diplomatic representation in the Southern Provinces, along with 16 other African countries, to clearly express support for the Moroccanness of the Sahara, the Minister said.
According to him, the number of diplomatic representations in the Southern provinces will rise because the majority of African countries are aware that this dispute is inherited from a bygone past that Africa can well do without.
Most African countries understand that this dispute is based on a position that has become obsolete and that supporting the autonomy initiative as the only solution to this regional dispute will allow African countries to rectify the mistake they made against the continent in 1984 by accepting a puppet entity with no legal or political basis for recognition, he went on.
For Morocco’s FM, the position of the DRC is part of the actions of HM King Mohammed VI in recent years in support of the Moroccanness of the Sahara, through international positions and agreements and the opening of consulates, whose number has now reached 19, in addition to the upcoming opening of consulates of Jordan and the United States.
The Minister highlighted the “historic” decision of Washington to open a consulate in Dakhla, which turns the city into an important consular center, stressing Dakhla’s status as a strategic international gateway, especially between Europe and Africa.
This reality paves the way for accelerating the pace of development of the city and helps to attract investment, create job opportunities and promote socio-economic development, he added.
On this occasion, the Consul General of the Democratic Republic of Congo, Mr. Nestor Bamialy Wawa was installed in his functions.
Since the beginning of the year, the city of Dakhla has experienced strong diplomatic momentum with the inauguration of the consulates of the Gambia, Guinea, Djibouti, Liberia, Burkina Faso, Guinea Bissau and Equatorial Guinea, in addition to Haiti, the first non-Arab and non-African country to open a Consulate in the Moroccan Sahara.